Video: Jim Dawson's 80-mile range electric Saturn
Jim Dawson gives a great tour of his 1994 Saturn SL1 converted to run on electricity for an Illinois public access cable show (you can watch the video below the fold). Jim shows us the insides of his four-door electric car, pointing out all the changes he made and then takes us for a drive. There is a fuse so Jim does not have to worry about electrocution and everything else - like brakes, air bags, etc. - is basically the same.
Jim could not leave the back suspension alone though because he added a thousand pounds of batteries which gets him up to 80-mile range. Jim has put over 8,000 miles on his electric Saturn and likes paying only 2 cents a mile (30 MPG gas car with $3 a barrel a gas costs 20 cents a mile). Jim thinks more people will be interested in electric cars when gas hits $4 this Summer.
[Source: YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Golden Boy 8:21PM (2/05/2008)
what did the retrofit cost?
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Lascelles Linton 9:13PM (2/05/2008)
Golden Boy, I think he's a mechanic and he says it's not a standard kit. It's probably hard to tell. I would guess about $5,000-10,000.
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Mort 9:40PM (2/05/2008)
It would be nice to have those skills.
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Snowdog 10:15PM (2/05/2008)
Look up Lead Acid power EVs, they generally eat their batteries in 1 or 2 years. You have to factor replacing the batteries frequently in that 2cents/mile claim.
Trojan Batteries are like $140 each *20 = $2800. Say $1000 for 10000 miles and that adds another 10 cents a mile.
And 30mpg with $3/gallon = 10 cents by my calculations, not 20.
Then again I am sleepy but on the economics side, it looks like a wash to me.
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Snowdog 10:22PM (2/05/2008)
Actually this guy says he gets about 10000 miles from a pack:
http://www.evworld.com/blogs/index.cfm?page=blogentry&authorid=19&blogid=245&archive=1
I believe he is running Trojans as well. See his other article on switching to AGM batteries.
That pushes cost/mile up to 30 cents. Gas closer to 10 cents.
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hynek 10:27PM (2/05/2008)
all that talk about LITHIUM-ION and yet this guy put together really great commuter with lead-acid batteries.
FORD, CHEVY... call this guy and offer him a job!
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Phil L. 8:08AM (2/06/2008)
hynek -
Actually, you've discovered exactly why the big OEMs don't have EVs today: Lots of effort into this PbA EV results in limitations most consumers wouldn't accept (range, speed, weight capacity), and significantly higher operating costs. How are you going to sell that to a broad market?
Li-ion (and related technology) offers lots of promise - but is still really pricey. It just now looks like it can make it for markets that can buy things like the Te$la - but that's not where the big OEMs make their money.
I believe we're finally getting close to a "perfect storm" confluence of technology and market conditions. Hopefully, the modern EV will finally come of age.
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Rich 9:10AM (2/06/2008)
As an auto mechanic I can tell you that the labor involved in doing an EV conversion would be allot. My guess is perhaps 80 hours of labor - that's not including the research to buy the proper parts.
Generic EV kits (motor,controller, etc) go for around $8k. So you are looking at over $12k for the whole job. Again that's my guess.
But I'm really interested in an EV for my wife to commute to and from work. Trouble is that it would need to have a 100 mile range. Included in that is a 30% buffer.
Our entire house is zero energy so now I'm looking to for an EV. But the batteries are the limiting factor.
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Dave 9:20AM (2/06/2008)
A lot of kit info here:
http://www.electroauto.com/index.html
I like the idea of the direct drive AC kit - more efficient and with regenerative braking.
It is true that there are no affordable, long lasting deep cycle batteries yet. ABG articles seem to indicate that they are getting closer:
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/25/fireflys-oasis-group-31-batteries-getting-some-ev-fans-excited/
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CNCMike 11:57AM (2/06/2008)
To do a proper comparison of cost to operate you have to include all the maintenance a gas powered car requires just like you include the cost to replace the battery pack in an electric car. When you add up all the costs for a gas powered car you get somewhere around 75 cents a mile to $1.25 per mile depending on the model. The electric car wins hands down for operating costs.
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Phil L. 11:24AM (2/06/2008)
CNCMike -
Yes, true comparison requires all costs be accounted for.
But where are you getting your cost estimates from for gas cars? I have a car with over 200K miles on it, and I haven't put anywhere near the $150K-$250K your figure suggests in typical. Certainly there must be a source for current real-life vehicle expenses that matches up with my own personal experiences.
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Rick Montgomery 11:50AM (2/06/2008)
The IRS has set the 2008 standard mileage rate for business driving at 50.5 cents per mile. That's how much your employer is allowed to reimburse you without reporting it as a taxable benefit. I assume it's based on an estimate of the total cost of operation including fuel, maintenance and depreceation. At that rate, an EV with a TCO of 30 cents per mile represents a savings of $20,500 over 100,000 miles.
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CNCMike 12:00PM (2/06/2008)
Sorry, somehow I reposted and not sure how. I heard the estimates on NPR one morning on the way to work.
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Snowdog 4:17PM (2/06/2008)
I don't see how people figure the electric car wins hands down on TCO. Especially if you use this car as an example. Are you leaving out the $2000 to $3000 annual battery replacement cost?
Lead Acids are terrible for EV's.
EVs have one major achilles heel that people tend to overlook, whether it is replacing a $15000 Volt Lithium pack in 8 years or a $2000 Lead Acid pack annually, batteries are still a massive weak link and TCO driver.
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stevefazek 7:25PM (2/06/2008)
with lead acid its hit or miss. Some people get 20,000 miles out of them or more others fry them in a few thousand. Its all about the quality of the charger and how you use them 100%-0% isnt exactly good for a battery. Also the temp of the environment plays alot as well.
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Wise Golden 7:27PM (2/06/2008)
Jim Dawson is more than a mechanic in my opinion -- he's an inventor. Even more so, he's a craftsman. The fit and finish of the electric conversion is, in a word, supurb. Another word would be fantastic. This is a clean vehicle in every sense of the word. I see people all over the place making electric conversions and this is the best I've yet seen (not a knock at the others, but it is what it is.)
I think that Jim could make the same conversion to an Escalade, for the same money, most likely using the same motor and batteries. He would not need to alter the suspension, it would still have plenty of trunck space, and he could make a nice living doing it. There are a lot of rich folks that would pay to have a nice 70 mile round trip as an additional car for work, and they would like high end. Food for thought Jim.
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theoriginalwheelstv 11:32AM (2/07/2008)
When I first saw Jim's car I could tell by the fit and finish of the conversion that it would probably run well. It did look like a factory job. Sitting in the car with my camera on the real ride I couldn't feel any difference between it and a gasoline powered car. Except for it's silence.
Also, this video put me over the 2 million views mark on YouTube. Thanks for watching.
Best regards,
Chuck Derer
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HL 1:22PM (2/07/2008)
It looks like the video is removed from youTube. Any other link?
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Greg 10:20PM (2/19/2008)
Has anyone considered the French Compressed air vehicle? You can either recharge the on board tanks from the compressor that comes with the car or you can purchase the model that has a One cyl. gas or diesel comlpressor on board. It is suppoosed to go into production this year.
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